Monday, July 14, 2008

Garden update July 08

Yesterday was a garden day. Things are not going very well. We seem to have at least one four footed visitor in the garden. We think that it is a deer because they have been seen in the area before. I'm sure that he/she/they took one look at our garden and rubbed their little front hoofs together while smacking their lips.

My beets have had several sever haircuts. We like beets, but we love beet greens. There have been several beets pulled out by the roots and left behind. The same thing happened a couple of years ago with the carrots.
We also have had some sort of fungus attack the eggplants. They were fine last week and this week it looks like they have been burned. Seeing as they were planted more than a month ago, I don't think that the sun is to blame.

I don't like the deer any more. It ate my peas! I planted 5 rows of peas because summer isn't summer without fresh peas. We did manage to pick a few and eat them right in the garden, but it was no where near the buckets full that I had hope for.

And it looks like our wet June has led to blight on the tomatoes again. Last year was the first year that we hadn't had blight in a number of years and I thought maybe we were done with it. But alas, no. We will get some tomatoes but no where near the record numbers that we had last year.

On the good side, the broccoli is doing very well! We picked and ate out first broccoli head. The taste is amazing! It is so much different from the taste of the broccoli that you buy in the grocery store in the winter.


And the cilantro is also growing well. Most of this was picked after this picture was snapped and made into a hot sauce that we have on samosas. I planted another row before I picked this one, and I hope to create a store of hot sauce to see us through the winter.
My mother also had an operation last week. I went to visit her on Saturday in the hospital and the nurse commented that she was such a wonderful person. I could only agree. She is home today and has been told to take it easy for the next 6 to 8 weeks. Knowing mom, after a couple of weeks, she may have a hard time doing that. Especially in the summer when there is so much to do!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is strange that with such a huge field right next to the garden that the deer choose to eat your beetgreens and peas rather than grass. If only you could train them to just eat weeds. How about putting up a temporary fence? There must be poles and fencing kicking around somewhere on the farm. We are having a pretty and cloudy July, here in Scotland. I have been looking forward to getting out on the hills, but the highland forcast for the next 5 days is 'showery periods'. I feel sorry for tourists who don't know that May is the time to come to Scotland, not the so called 'summertime'. At least the days are long.

Curious Llama

Anonymous said...

I love beet greens, so I'm annoyed at the deer (or whatever it is). The eggplant is not such a big deal, since we've had 'hit-n-miss' on them over the years. But the tomato blight is supremely annoying. We all love the tomato heaven season, and the blight is going to put a bad dent in that.

Oh, and Mamoo, we watered your garden on Sunday and on your flooded back lawn Simon and I pulled all of the big weeds that were threatening to seed.

Anonymous said...

Next year will be better is my motto regarding the garden. We depend so much on the weather that from year to year it is never to the perfection that we expected.
Sorry for your peas and all the things that has gone wrong with your garden. So it is not a Victory Garden but it still looks pretty good to me. I don't see the weeds having much of a chance to grow this year.

In my garden by the house the hot peppers, basil and tomatoes are doing fine and I am sure that I will never be able to consume all its bounty so you are more than welcome to pick to your hearts content. Sorry but I did not plant any peas this year.

Thanks for pulling my weed Mira's Papa and Simon . I appreciate it very much. It's like you pull my weeds and I will pull your weeds only now I can't go weeding even for myself. I will pull weeds again next year.

My back flower garden is in a sorrowful state this summer as the pesky chick weeds have taken over and I have let it be but I will come with a vengeance next year. I will use a blow torch if I have to but I will win the war on those chick weeds weeds somehow.

It's good to be back home and thank you all for caring, for the phone calls and visit.

Mamoo

Rhonda the Stitchingnut said...

I had a woodchuck get my tomatoes and cucumbers last year. This year I've poured "blood meal" around the perimeter of the garden. I hear the animals will stay away if they smell blood. Hope it works. So far ... yes.

Anonymous said...

Rhonda's comment reminds me... Some resourceful zoos have been selling zoodoo. This is essential lion and or tiger poo which turns out to be a powerful repellant for garden invaders. Whether or not deers would respond is quite another thing.

Curious Llama